The heart of every man craves a great adventure, but life doesn't usually feel that way. Jesus speaks of narrow gates and wide roads, but the masculine journey is filled with many twists and turns.
So how do we keep from losing heart while trying to find the good way when life feels more like a losing battle than something worth dying for? Grab your gear and come on a quest with your band of brothers who will serve as the guides in what we call the masculine journey. The masculine journey starts here, now. Welcome to Masculine Journey. We're glad that you're with us in the middle of this foundation series that we've been doing for a little while now.
Yeah, it's very foundational. It's well, it's a big foundation. It is. You know, very grateful that we have such a large foundation of things that we believe in God that we could keep doing shows on. Yeah, I would say this is one of the cornerstones.
of the foundation.
Well that that's part of a foundation. Yeah, very important. We're definitely on the footers part of that, the footings that's that's going under there. Gotcha. Yeah, yeah.
So there's more construction talk we can get into. Anyway, welcome to Masculine Journey. We are talking about the foundational beliefs that this ministry kind of springs out of. Right, the things that God's done in our life, and it's all biblically based, and it's how God's led us to more freedom, to restoration, healing, all those kinds of things, how He's stepped in and fathered us, which is what we'll be talking about today, isn't it, Andy? That's right.
So today we are talking about to build on what I feel like It's kind of like Two. Two p. pillars or whatever that work together. Two points of foundation or whatever. His identity was last week, a new name, but I feel like it's really related to sonship because our primary identity comes from.
Being a son, and then the identity, the name you get is the unique name that the father gives you. Yeah. But it's just essential. A lot of people, we have different varieties of our view of God and God the Father. And a lot of times, all we can do is relate to what we've seen on the earth.
And it the best father on earth still damages and wounds his children at times, and even the best father just doesn't Always provide what's needed, and never was fully intended to, I think, is another point. Of this talk that we do, and I learned so much from listening to Morgan. He really went on a pursuit of. Being fathered by other men and allowing God to bring these men in and really just men and women, actually. Yeah, He did, and there's that point.
But really, of, I mean, it's really putting yourself in a place of humility to allow others to speak into your lives on behalf of God. And in doing so, God's orchestrating all that, but God's also working in you to. in you individually to see him, You know, I always thought God was kind of up there He loved me. Just like I knew my father loved me, but he kind of disappeared in my life for a point of time, and that God was kind of absent. Mm-hmm.
I didn't think he wa he was reach out and touchable. Yeah. The Father God that I can access. I have access to Him. And You know, the way Morgan lays it out, John wrote the book on this, John Eldridge.
Um but it just became alive to me after I got my new name, after I had allowed God to heal s some things in me. There were some road trips that I talk about a lot where I just pursued that and allowed God to come into that. And so I don't want to go too long. I'm getting into my story, but it just became so real to me. And I think that's what God wants.
He wants to be real to us. He wants to be present and available just like a father. You know, Morgan says he's not the backup plan. His desire, Jesus came. Jesus said, I'm the way, the truth, and the life.
No one comes to the Father but by me. I don't want to defeat Jesus' purpose of coming for all that and not really connecting to the Father like he made available. Yeah, everybody talks about what Jesus' purpose was. But when Jesus talks about his purpose, it's the way to the Father. Right, that was the whole thing, that the goal was to get to the Father.
And as we're talking this week, the talk that we do at boot camp, we call it sonship, we talk about being God, God being our Father, and what that really means. And we're going to talk about how that's happened for us over the last period of time and happens every single day for us. But there are things that do get in the way. of that and uh often it is Our view of our earthly Father. And Andy, you pointed that out a little bit.
And I'm going to play a clip from the movie Saving Mr. Banks. And in here, Walt Disney's talking to the lady that, Darren, what was the story that she was Mary Poppins, thank you. I knew it was one of them. I just couldn't.
Robby, thank you for that. In case you didn't know the voice, that wasn't Darren's voice. He wasn't being a very truthless there. Yeah. But he's talking to the lady that eventually is.
Has a Mary Poppins story that's going to be part of Disney, and he's sharing part of his life, and he's talking about his childhood growing up in Kansas City. And so we're going to listen to that and then come back and talk about it. You ever been to Kansas City? Miss Travis, do you know Missouri at all? I can't say I do.
Well, it's mighty cold there in the winters. Bitter cold. My dad, Elias Disney, he owned a newspaper delivery route there, a thousand papers, twice daily. morning and an evening edition. And dad was a tough businessman.
He was a... Save a penny anywhere you can. a fella so he wouldn't employ delivery boys no no no he used me and My big brother Roy. I was uh That was eight. Back then, just eight years old.
And like I said, uh winters are harsh. And old Elias, well, he didn't believe in new shoes until the old ones were worn through. Honestly, Mrs. Travers is a snowdrift.
Sometimes they would up over my head. We'd push through that snow like it was molasses. Cold and wet seeping through our clothes and shoes. Skin peeling from my faces.
Sometimes I'd. find myself sunk down in that snow. Just waking up. Cause it must have passed out or something, I don't know. Then, well, it was time for school and I was too cold or wet to...
figure out equations and things and Well, then it was right back out in the snow again to get home just before dark. Mother and feed us dinner. And then it was time to go right back out and do it again for the evening edition. You best be quick there. You better get those newspapers up on that.
porch and under that storm door, Pop's gonna lose his temper again and show you the buckle end of his belt. I know we like to open up with a cheery. You ever been to Dance City, Ms. Travis? Playing again.
It's really popular. The uh The point there that if you listen to Walt Disney talk about the his relationship with his dad, and often what we do is we take that vision of a father-son relationship and we portray that on God. You know, we put that up on him: that this is my vision of a father, so God must be even more like that. And so you listen to Walt Disney's story, what kind of vision would he have? potentially about God.
Right, when his dad was a very hard man, uh sounded very um Uncaring. Right? And just all about the money more than about the relationship. Growing up for me, My dad was probably the biggest baseball fan I've ever met in my life. He loved baseball.
And I talked about on this show before, I grew up playing baseball. I loved baseball as a kid. My dad never traveled for work or anything. He was in town pretty much every night and was available pretty much every night. But I can count the number of practices and the number of ball games that he came to on two fingers.
My whole career, and I played from the time I played t-ball up until 13 or 14. And he came to two whole games the whole time. And so growing up and you have a kid's logic. And you say, Okay, I know my dad absolutely loves baseball. Absolutely loves baseball.
But he doesn't come to my games, and I know it's not baseball, therefore it must be me. Right, I'm just not important. I'm just not a priority. The one thing I never doubted though in the whole mix of that was my dad loved me. And so I grew up with the same image of God.
I cast that on to God. I knew God loved me. I never doubted that. I would joke and say that's in his job description, right? You know, God is love.
And But I always thought, well, he doesn't really have time for me. There's world hunger, there's other things. that as a higher priority there's wars going on somewhere all the time. And so I looked at that relationship as God's not going to be there when I really need him. You know, and so that's the way I live my life for a lot of years.
was with that impression. You know, in coming to one of our first boot camps, every week when we do a pillar, we talk about how this is one of the most important pillars to us. But that's all true, 'cause they all are. as God's worked in our life. And this is one that really just Was huge for me because it changed that dynamic between my Heavenly Father and me.
You know, it took a while for me to get it. You know, to put my head in a space where I would accept it and live in it. God was trying for a long time, but I've just watched him over the last several years as it's grown and grown and grown. His influence and engagement in my life is I've invited him in. He's always been willing.
I just haven't always been willing to invite him in. You know, this year my word of the year was sonship. And uh and I said before on the radio, it kinda scared me 'cause I didn't know how much I was gonna need it. You know, 'cause you know when you have to really lean into God a lot, it means things aren't always going well. But when you really start to walk closely with him, you lean into him with the good things and with the not just the bad things.
You lean into him with everything. You know, and you ask him what's going on, and that's been a big difference in my life, and especially this year. It's been a very challenging year in a lot of ways, but uh. I've learned to just lean into him first and foremost and let him kind of guide me and love on me through it. Uh we have a guest with us today.
David, how are you, buddy? I think I remember you being here sometime last year, was it? Yeah, it was actually March.
Okay, was it last year or this year? This year. Oh, it was this year? You have made it in 2025? Yes.
Okay, okay. Partially, I was here for a little bit and I had to bolt. Oh, it was the time you were here. That's right.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Well, David, welcome back. We're glad to have you here.
Well, I'm glad to be here with most of y'all. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I know, but Andy, you gotta be here with him anyway.
Oh, let's not get it started on Andy. Welcome to the Cross-Examination Show. Exactly. Exactly. David, uh what what uh What thoughts do you have on this topic of God being your Father?
You know, it's, I mean, you guys have been around, you know, for the last better part of six years. And so, you know, God's really put each and everyone in this room in my life to show me and to father through them. You know, Robby was there when, you know, I don't know if he knows it, but that was the first buck I've ever shot in my entire life.
So he fathered me through that. You know, Andy has fathered me through numbers of things. One being his skill set with computers. Except on passwords. Except on passwords, but that's a different show.
And then, you know, Sam's abusive nature has bothered me. Call out the IT profession radio show, more cross-examination going on. Hey, man, you started it.
So but yeah, I mean God's really you know Using y'all to father me through a lot of things in my life, and good, bad, and ugly. Those are brothers talking. Absolutely. Yeah, exactly. Yes, Rather.
Well, I in David's case, you know, and I know we're going to talk about the boot camp that's coming up Nov November 20th through the 24th, but Anyway, his father was a pastor, so he has some really unique Unique, very unique for your gym, for you, Jim, out there, wounds to talk about when we come back. We'll talk to you when we come back. What we have at our boot camp is something that makes you stronger and gives you the strength to go on your regular walk with God. It's something that will make you be bigger than you were when you got there. I got away from Christ and suffer an overdose and He took my memory at that time.
I didn't know where I was, who it was, who, what I was doing.
So he showed me a little bit of his power there, letting me know that without him, I'm nothing. I don't got nothing. And that will be nothing.
So I decided to come back and just right now for the first time. Like I've been through a lot of things like As you see me. That tweets all over and everything. I've been through a war.
So, for the first time in my life in this. on this camp. I've been able to feel that peace in my heart. I haven't seen my family in over eight years.
now but I actually can say today But I'm okay with it. God is with me, and He's been dealing with my heart in a way that I never experienced it before. And I'm just thankful and grateful. Register today at masculinejourney.org. Unto the Father, a fall into grace.
I'm done with the hiding, no reason to wait. My heart needs a surgeon, my soul needs a friend.
So I'll run to the Father again and again and again and again. Welcome back to Masco and Journey. That's a boot camp song we play. Almost every boot camp. I think you brought it to us originally, didn't you?
Yeah, I got it from the Ohio guys. It became popular, and I hadn't heard it, and I heard it. That tore me up at boot camp up there. And we've just kind of latched onto it. I mean, it really speaks to how God does come after us, you know.
It just in a in a multitude of ways. Yeah, it talks about my heart needs a surgeon, my soul needs a friend. Right. You know, come to the Father again and again. And that's what we're talking about: that there's all aspects of God being your Father.
We talked about before the break, you know, how he steps in and does that. But David also illustrated the point that he also uses other people in our life, and Andy talked about that, that he uses. God was skin on them to help fathers through different things. And it's pretty cool when you look back. One of my favorite things about doing the sonship talk: when someone does it for the first time, one of the things that you're kind of required to do is to look back and kind of make a list or a picture list of who all's fathered you over the years.
And it's a great exercise for that person. You tend to take those things for granted. You don't really see everything seems random instead of God orchestrating it. And when you. Begin to look at it and look back and say, that person made a difference in my life.
That person sewed into it, that person spoke into my life, that person actually acted like a father to me. All of that adds up and you you're like, I'm just not out here just by myself. God's God is moving in my life. Yeah, I'm working on this talk for this upcoming boot camp. And so, as I've been working on it, God's been kind of showing me.
Breaking down the people that's fathered me in the past into different categories. That's good. You know, categories of people. people that's father me through work. people that's fathered me through faith.
you know, through these other things, through being a parent. And then there's this whole host of fathers that I've never met. You know, um John Lynch that we we do a lot of his stuff or people like that or maybe a book that you read that really moves your heart closer to God. Or even the random picture you have on there they isn't even anybody. Yeah, exactly.
I do have one of those from Goot Camp. Art, were you wanting to say something or just moving the microphone? I was just moving the microphone out of the Path of the camera there.
Okay, that that's our video director, Art.
So we have that going on. Anyway, Andy, you have the next clip, and so if you want to tell us about that. Yeah, so There's A serious Morgan, whenever he does this talk, and he does an excellent job. And it really just I've listened to. his talk just to learn every time.
I mean, I'm you're doing the talk you God brings things to you in your own personal life. But He's done a great job of breaking this down and really making it available to people. And and in doing so he uses mainly the m the movie Braveheart. And he breaks them several several uh scenes down. And a lot of it, there's just a variety of things, but really, there's two scenes that really speak to me.
It's when Before William Wallace um s dad goes off to war, he pretty much speaks into William's life and and tells him, you know, that Well, you'll hear the clip, but basically, he speaks into his life, and you can tell the affection of the father. There's other scenes as well, but then he loses his dad. Which a lot of times we lose our dad, whether it's physically or they don't show up or whatever, use some of your story or whatever, some of my story. And then you're Yeah, you know, I yeah, I dare say it. You become an orphan to a degree.
You don't have you know, you can still have your mom there, but you were meant to have a mom and a dad, and you feel orphaned, you feel lost. And you I lived a big part of my life that way, even though I had people speaking to my life or whatever, but I was I there was a lot of shame that came from that. And therefore I isolated myself, and if I got around men, it would just show how I was unqualified or. Unfinished.
So I avoided that. And then when God brought all this stuff up, it be I began to see that this orphan spirit or or just living on my life on my own and not allowing them to father me, it was really hurting me. But Going back to the Braveheart clip. God and his grace in this story. You know, it's a true story, but this is a fictional part of what.
the Mel Gibson story or whatever, but William Wallace in this story gets a uncle, Uncle Arg Argyll and I'll save the comments for later. There's a joke around that. But anyway, um Uncle Argyle really becomes a father to William, and you hear it in this clip a little bit. I know I've set it up to where you probably don't have to watch it. But.
There's just a lot in here. And it's what we're talking about is that we lose our father. Um Or where you know, our father we never really knew and we get acquainted with him. I mean, Argyll becomes a substitute father, but he comes becomes the father that makes William the great man that he becomes. I can fight and know you can fight.
Yeah. But it's a r I can fight. I know you can fight. But it's our wits. I think it's a good idea.
What are they doing? saying goodbye in their own way. Playing out loud tunes. Our note light papes. It was the same for me and your daddy.
when our father was killed. First Learn to use Thus Then I'll teach you. Two years. Yeah. Yeah, the joke is, you know, Uncle Argyll, you know, Uncle socks or uncle's sweater, you know.
Um we always laugh about that but and he's this mysterical myst Mysterious. Character that comes riding in, you know, glass eye or eye damaged or whatever, looks like a ogre or whatever. And he comes in and William doesn't want to go with him. And a lot of times we don't. When God comes in with that rescue, we don't want to go.
Mm-hmm. We want to stay comfortable. We want to stay at the home that we knew and not go off on a pilgrimage like he did in Argyle, but he becomes the man that he is through that. And God has to do us. He has to sometimes yank us out or whatever.
Life. It could be part of the disruption. It could have been what the end Enemy meant for bad, God meant for good. But he just comes into William's life, and you hear that. You hear basically the same message from the father as the uncle is that, you know.
First of all, you got to take care of your mind and your spirit. And then you can learn how to be a fighter that, you know, that knows how to use a sword. And and God is consistent in that way. And um I don't know, just that message of Not only am I going to come rescue you, I'm going to take you on the greatest adventure you've ever seen. And he became a great man in that just a great story.
He became not only a great warrior, but he came a great leader, a great lover, just a You know, he was he just became a great man and it was because of the influence. of the Father. You know, I bet I've heard that clip. I don't know. Lots of times.
Over a hundred. I just put it together. Again, both clips of both fathers telling him about using his wits. And I don't mean this to be cliche at all, and I hate that it has that tinge to it, but it isn't. is the Bible is the sword.
Yeah. Okay. And you have to learn. through your wits how to use that sword. You can use the Bible and inflict horrible damage.
Absolutely. And you can use the Bible. to put your enemy up. you know, at bay. I you know, you can do so many different things b by learning to use your wits, then use it it's it's a fascinating thing.
I had never really put together in that clip until, you know, I heard it this time and I went, Oh. That's cool right there? Yeah. And I I would tend to say that your wits as a maturing Christian, are in fact the Holy Spirit. Exactly.
So until you learn... to listen. To the Holy Spirit, learn to hear his voice and to hear. his definition of your identity and all of those things. then now you have the ability to go help others with that sword.
That's I mean, I've said it a bunch of times. I was a pastor when I was twenty five and I think that's the dumbest thing that's ever happened in the history of the world. I don't think you should be you know, if you're not forty or maybe fifty, To listen to the Holy Spirit is a phenomenal gift. That Yeah, I love the way you put that, and it's exactly right. Um It's amazing.
They say either way, it's the low.
So Andy, sorry, Grant, did you want to say something else? Associate the father. with with a father. I mean So with God the Fo and our Father Absolutely. Yeah.
Andy, did you want to share how we've got just a little bit of time left, how God's been fathering you in this latest season of your life? Yeah, I mean What Morgan gives example is practical things. You know, I avoided a lot of stuff, any kind of. working with my hands or Didn't get a lot of skill. My brothers can do anything.
I can't do anything. That was kind of the agreement I made. I but I've stepped into simple things that you get great victory over. And and you know, as you know, there's a lot of stuff I'll never I never make up or whatever, but th God's just Doing stuff like that, and I think God wants you to mature in such a way that nothing intimidates you. Nothing is beyond what you have when you have him there with you.
And so I'm stepping in things like that. But I, you know, there's things. specific examples like what Go ahead. What was the simple thing that you got to do? I mean, there was working on appliances and replacing stuff or whatever.
That's what we wanted to do. You fixed your dryer. Fix my dryer. Did you really? Fix my dryer, fix my heating and air.
I mean, Google helps, you know, fathered by Google. You know, I think it's a good idea. Um Anyway, just a variety of things, but really loving my family, loving my daughter, loving my brother and... You know, you know, over time, I've been able to, where we used to be butt heads. We love one another, and God's led me into how to do that.
I mean, it's about humility, really. If you want more in-depth on this topic of God as Father and being a son, go to the boot camp coming up November 20th through 23rd. We're all leaving on the 23rd. I think Robby's leaving on the 24th, as he said earlier. But it is just until the 23rd.
Go to masculinejourney.org to register. If you're having trouble getting there, we'll help you get there. Talk to you next week.
